To get at this problem, Ghazanfar and colleagues studied three monkeys. But if the difference is cognitive, the natural history of spoken language would suddenly look quite different. If anatomy is what sets humans apart from other primates, then the evolution of modern speech must have required major anatomical changes. This question has relevance for humans, for whom language is a defining species-wide trait, credited for most if not all of civilization. “They could do symbolic communication, but why weren’t they speaking?” “I think people were pretty surprised that, in this speech-rich, language-rich environment, a chimpanzee couldn’t utter a single word. Article content Kevin Frayer/Getty Images This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Even chimpanzees raised from birth in human homes, just like human babies, fail miserably at what nearly every human baby manages with ease, from “goo-goo gaga” all the way to “Dad, you’re so embarrassing.” No non-human primates have been able to produce speech, and not for lack of eager humans trying to teach them. There are even experiments that purport to prove this, especially a 1969 paper by Phil Lieberman, based on cadaver research, which concluded the vocal apparatus of nonhuman primates is “inherently incapable of producing the range of human speech.”Ī lot of evidence fits this view. Even if they knew language, on this view, monkeys and chimpanzees could not speak it out loud. Talking, according to neuroscientist Asif Ghazanfar of Princeton University, is an “exquisite biomechanical coordination problem,” and the traditional view is that nonhuman primates do not have the muscles to solve it. Article content I think people were pretty surprised that, in this speech-rich, language-rich environment, a chimpanzee couldn’t utter a single word. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |